The Creator
by Drexon
Summary: In a world without legendaries, its single creator wanders through his creation. But what happens when said maker of the world stumbles across a overly excited professor? Well, he really should be used to the name Ash by now...
1. Chapter 1

**The Creator: Chapter One**

* * *

Pidgey.

Not the best pokémon built for flying in this world, despite its typing it has always had a rather low long-term flight ability.

It exhausts itself easily though it has such a small stature, a big part of the reason why is mostly due to how they're built, not size wise but how they've been formed and altered through generations of different Pidgeys, Pidgeottos and Pidgeots. The occurance of such a thing is inevitable, nothing stays the same in this world.

Everything will forever continue to change despite how much the inhabitants of this world disagree.

A lone, smaller then average Pidgey could be seen roaming over the outer parts of Viridian City. An average soul might not ponder much about a small Pidgey roaming the skies, especially in these parts of the world where they were so common you could close your eyes and see one.

But this small Pidgey had a destination, a goal so to speak with it's flight over Viridian City, now nearing Route 1. This same Pidgey had always taken this route once every ten years, to observe it's surroundings and the area it was currently flying over.

The lone bird continued to fly towards it's destination, mostly in silence as to not attract any attention. It would rather not have some new trainer attempt to catch it, but who would capture a newly hatched one anyways? The more mature group of Pidgeots knew who said Pidgey was or atleast had a vague idea of it. It could always be seen around these parts at this time, few even saw it, and those who did witness something incredible.

Atleast by their standards.

For the small Pidgey itself it wasn't much, it didn't really get why the inhabitants of Route 1 would fuss so much over it. No other route does it when he visits it, so why did this one?

There were many suitable answers to said question, but there was a few that would render mostly anyone speechless. It has been a tale going through generations of Pidgeots that once every ten years, a small lone Pidgey, small enough to be a newly hatched would always fly over this route. And the lucky ones who could see it land, would not be met with the feathery body of their kind, instead with the clothed body of a human boy.

Wild speculations about who it was were always a hot topic among the birds themselves, so much that there had always been days or weeks where all of the Pidgey evolutionary line gathered, mostly to look for said Pidgey but also to share tales and theories about what or who this human boy could be. It was a special event in a way for the inhabitants of Route 1, and it would happen now again.

The small pidgey could see a massive number of Pidgeys, Pidgeottos and Pidgeots in a small grassy clearing ahead of it. Why they had all gathered in one place and that place in particular was a confusing thought. Perhaps it had been about their tales as it had heard of, or simply cause of a small feud? If there was a disagreement, maybe it could help resolve it?

Deciding, the small Pidgey started to descend towards the minor grassy patch it could spot through the trees. As the lone bird was nearing the small clearing, several of the older Pidgeots turned their heads towards the odd wind shift in the air. Their gaze met with a small Pidgey, almost small enough to be a newborn. The Pidgeots urged the youngsters to look upwards and when they did, they held their breaths.

With graceful movements of it's small wings, the Pidgey landed in the center of the ring made up of the Pidgey evolution line. And just as it hit the ground, a bright light started to erupt from within the small Pidgeys body.

A form of evolution was taking place, though the colors of it was shifting rapidly almost like a rainbow of sorts. The air around the clearing got heavy, a presence so big it almost choked the air was being released. The wind started going around the area in rapid speeds, trees were on the verge of falling, leaves were flying around the clearing distorting the vision of the inhabitants of Route 1. It created a dance of colors around the clearing, brown, green and orange mixing rapidly. The small Pidgeys body was changing slowly, it was glowing so brightly that a few of the birds had to look away to not be momentarily blinded

The Pidgey was growing alot larger then it had originally been, it's wings getting longer and more slim, so slim you couldn't see the feathers that had been present. It's small beak was flattened as it's upper body grew several times it's previous one, it's head following the rapid change in body structure. It's small legs got thicker and longer as the now not so Pidgey-like creature stood up. The colors around the area got even brighter as the creature stood up completely. Every pokémon in the area stood still, eyes widening as far as they could.

As the creature fully stood still and proud, the light started to lower in intensity, the leaves started flowing softly to the ground or into the surrounding greenery, the trees still stood on the verge of falling. But the Pidgey evolution line looked as if they had been hit with a thunderbolt, their feathers were pointing to all sorts of places but they didn't care. All they could care about right now, was that the light had almost fully died down.

There stood a boy, a human boy who seemed no older then his mid-teens with his plain clothing and his disheavled raven hair. The boy stretched his arms over his head as he was now done with the transformation, his arms felt heavy and they had a good reason for feeling heavy.

"Phew!" the boy laughed out lightly, "They really aren't that sturdy in long flights.." he thought out loud, "Should I try to change that?" the boy asked no one in particular, his hand on his chin in deep thought. '_I could try to change their wing length and mobility through adjusting their bone structure, though that would take a few decades.._' Most of the times he flew like this, the boy always took the form of the native regions flying type. The Kanto region's being the Pidgey evolution line.

'_But that would change the evolutions aswell, could that be balanced in some way?_' the boy questioned to himself, but soon his mind caught up to him. Pidgey.. it was a familiar thought about it that pestered him, had he forgot something involving Pidgeys?

Deciding to look around, the boy noticed around _fifty_ of the Pidgey evolution line surrounding the clearing he had landed in. All looking at him with wide eyes.

'_Oh.. right I forgot about this_.' the human thought with a small smile, how could he had forgotten his reason for even landing here? Maybe age was finally taking it's toll on him, though that wasn't very likely, it hadn't done that in the past so why would it start now?

Now how could he get a Pidgeot to go forward and talk to him? They all looked at him warily or with amazement, he wasn't sure which one he prefered right now. Perhaps it would just be easier to ask them? Pokémon were by no means stupid, each and every pokémon was supposed to have intelligence on par or even greater then an average human. Deciding to try his luck, the boy went through with what he had in mind.

"Could your elected elder come forth?" the boy questioned the birds.

After a minute or so a few small chirps rang inside of the clearing he interpreted as 'Get the elder!', a few flaps of wings was heard from the Pidgeottos present in the clearing, getting on with the task ordered. He could aswell see the few brave Caterpies and Rattatas that had decided to join the clearing aswell, looking around with wide eyes at the scene presented before them. A lone human standing inside of the clearing with pokémon at every corner, each eyeing the human with amazement in their gazes.

A few minutes had passed and nothing had changed except the gazes he was put under had been filled with curiousity instead of the previous amazement, aswell as several other pokémon had joined them, how many the boy didn't know but that wasn't of importance as of now, but eventually the sound of wings beating steady in the air came to his ears.

A rather pleasant sound, you could tell just by following the sound that it belonged to a very old and powerful Pidgeot. It was like a heart, steadily and soothingly beating without losing it's rythm.

The boy brought his attention to the sky above the now leaning trees close to his vicinity, his gaze met with the large figure that was merely a few hundreds of meters away. He could sense it speed up greatly as it had spotted the clearing, it didn't seem to waste time.

That was good, atleast so the boy thought, he didn't want to waste time sitting here waiting for the bird to arrive late. Not that it would matter, he had all the time in the world but waiting could get abit tiring.

With great elegance the powerful bird eventually landed inside of the grassy clearing, rustling the leaves to life once more. The boy set his gaze on the old bird, a small smile present on his face, It was truly a magnificent creature and no doubt equally as lethal in combat. It's sharpened claws and it's lengthy wing span was sure to make even the bravest of hearts cold with fear.

The Pidgeot shifted around on it's small feet, digging it's claws into the ground slightly as it had landed, checking his own stability.

Seeming satisfied, the bird raised it's wings clear above it's head, bellowing in a mighty cry. '_What's the meaning of summoning me here!_'the bird questioned rather loudly towards his fellow kin.

A few younger Pidgeots and Pidgeottos shifted on their small feet, while the younger Pidgeys made sure to stand behind the safety of their older brethren. It didn't tho, take long for the response to flow smoothly into the air of the clearing.

"My deepest apologies if I have upset you elder with this request of your presence,". The elder Pidgeot turned it's head ever so slowly towards the familiar voice, it's calm and serene tone soothing his climbing confusion and anger.

The familiar raven-colored hair matched with the ever so plain human clothes, sure confirmed the Pidgeots suspicion. "_It is a surprise to be summoned by you, human,_"the elder Pidgeot started, eyeing the boy with a small grin of it's beak, '_It has been a long time since i've last met you_.', the boy simply smiled in return waiting for the enevitable question that was on everyone's mind right now, '_Why have you come here?_' the elder Pidgeot questioned, thorougly confused and mighty curious over the boys appearance.

The boy made sure to look around the clearing, eyeing each and every Pokémon in his presence before replying, "It worried me deeply to witness so many Pokémon inside a single clearing," the raven-haired human started, feeling every pair of eyes and focus shift to him, "I was afraid a disagreement had come forth, surely I seem to have been mistaken." gesturing around the clearing with his hand.

'_It seems you have,_' the great bird responded, checking it's own stability once more before gesturing with a large wing towards a group of small Pidgeys, who shied away a tiny bit with the focus now on them, '_The youngsters are always eager to attend this tradition we have in our forest, as many of them are still too young to be left alone, the elders always accompany them to the clearings_'. The Pidgeot brought his attention back to the human before him.

'_A tradition brought to life by a tale, perhaps you've heard of it, human?_' the bird questioned.

A small smile crept it's way up towards the boys lips as he pondered over how to answer the great bird.

"I have," the boy confirmed, "Is it not the one about the Pidgey?", in respone to his question the great bird smiled with it's beak, confirming with a brief nod.

'_Should one see it land, you will not be met with the feathery body of our kind, but the clothed body of a human boy._' the Pidgeot quoted, earned a cheerful smile and a nod from the boy.

The human looked around the clearing, inspecting the gathered pokémon that had been curious enough to attend such a strange meeting before answering, "That's the one," he responded, "A very unusual tale going around these parts if I may say so myself."

'_That it is, yet i've seen you here before human, when I was but a hatchling._" The great bird informed, earning once again a smile from the boy as he set his gaze on the old and powerful Pidgeot, '_But our kin has never had the chance to ask what we're all so curious to unravel,_' the bird stopped, afraid that he would be crossing something he should not if he did ask such an offending question.

'_Who are you, boy?_'

At the birds question he could feel the excitement peak from just about everyone present in the clearing, save himself ofcourse.

Yet how should he answer such a question? He took a second to think over his options, and barely that was needed to get the most rewarding one. Who wouldn't answer this with a question of its own?

A gentle smile worked its way to his face as he answered the bird, "Who do you think I am, elder?".

The elders sharp eyes gazed around the clearing, thinking about his answer thorougly. Surely the boy had to be someone extraordinary to have such.. remarkable powers.

'_Surely you must be someone of great importance to have the abilities you've presented us with previously.._' The bird trailed off with his answer, afraid he'd made a mistake by assuming the boy is of importance to the world at large.

'_I do not mean to come across as rude, human._' The bird started, feeling uncharacteristically self-concious, '_But these abilities are rather unusual for a pokémon capable of human speech, so surely you.._' the bird trailed off again, not knowing how to continue his sentence.

Thankfully the boy answered for him, "Rest easy elder, you cannot come across as rude given the friendly atmosphere I've been welcomed into here at Route 1."

At his words the elder Pidgeot seemed to relax a small fraction, but far from comfortable.

"However, to answer your question I'd like to ask another question, if I may elder?" the boy continued, giving an encouraging smile to the old bird. He was here with no ill-intent, he hoped they would realize that eventually.

Then again he had just barged into their clearing with no respect for their traditions.. but hadn't the traditions involved him? Would that still be considered rude or perhaps selfish of him? Should he apologize?

Feeling himself overthinking such a matter, he was thankful for the interruption the old bird provided.

The bird nodded his consent, '_You may._'

A almost dazzling smile made it's way to the boys features as he started to kneel down to the ground, carefully and almost as if it was his precious child, he gently scooped up a small fist of earthly substances or well... _Dirt._

The boy returned to a standing stance, and presented his two hands holding the dirt to the bird. A serious look came over the boys features as he started to ask his question, "What am I holding, elder?"

All of the pokémon present in the clearing started to stare at his hands, obviously puzzled by the strange behaviour of the human boy. Who in their right mind would pick up a fist of dirt and present it to the respected elder?

The elder himself found himself even more puzzled by the recent events, a fist of dirt was presented to him in the most serious fashion he would most likely be presented dirt. Not that he had really been presented dirt before.

Surely the dirt most have some form of symbolism for him to present it to him, but then again it could be a trick question. However, the more the old Pidgeot pondered over it's meaning, he realised what this conversation had been about.

The boy's origin or atleast his indentity, and he obviously can't mean he's dirt.. could he?

A logical answer would have to uh.. suffice, the bird supposed. '_The world, human?_' , a serious expression covering the Pidgeots features as he answered the question.

Thankfully, the boy responded quick with a grin, "Correct elder, and who were the ones who created the world?" he questioned quite rapidly after the bird had answered.

The large Pidgeot had to stop and ponder over this question aswell, there could be several answers to such an important topic.

Who had really created the world? There were the tales of the God Pokémon, Arceus himself, being the creator of the land filled with all these elemental creatures. But then again, according to the same legend Arceus had not created the world himself, he had supposedly taken the help of several of his children, beings of the purest form of their elements.

From the ground being made from the claws of Groudon, to the sea weaving it's way to the shores of the world by the fins of Kyogre, to the sky shaping itself around Lord Rayquaza's majestic form.

No, Arceus had not been alone in creating the world, the ones called Legends had put in their hardwork to shape the world to what it is today.

Though the elder doubted it, surely this boy couldn't be a legend? No.. that would be impossible, the tales of the legends being highly against visitors or even showing themselves had long since proved themselves true, had they not?

But accounting the risk that the boy had a small, oh so very small, chance of being one the old Pidgeot couldn't risk offending such a creature. No, the answer had to be...

'_The Legends, human?_' The bird gazed at the boy with it's sharp eyes. He had made the safe choice with his answer, there couldn't possibly be any reprecussions now for his forest. Still, the boys reaction unnerved him, he was still looking at him, the elder, with that little half-smile and his eyes brimming with energy.

Surely he had made the right answer?..

A small nod from the boy made some of his uneasiness go away, "That's right, elder." A larger smile crept it's way up to the boys features as he answered.

The Pidgeot looked at the boy, waiting for a continuation of their conversation, surely there would be another question? He couldn't possibly just stop there, and Arceus help him, silently imply he was one of the Legends..

No, he had to push for an answer now. The boy wouldn't continue the conversation, then he would himself. It was such a strange feeling, that perhaps.. just perhaps a Legend was standing within his reach.

'_Are you one of them?_' The elder asked directly, there was no going circles or jumping over answers now. He had to know.

The boy raised an eyebrow at the birds direct question, he had truthfully expected himself being the one to continue the converstion. But none the less, now he didn't have to continue this small guessing game they had going on.

"Is that what you truly believe, elder?" Black eyebrows raised in what almost looked like amusement.

To be honest, the bird himself didn't know what pushed him to do it, but he had to continue with the direct questions. He didn't know he had gotten such an obsession with the answer. Perhaps it had started when he was but a hatchling and first saw the small pidgey descend in a ray of light, the hypnotic colours of it's transformation..

Yes he had to know.

'_Are you?_' the old Pidgeots eyes narrowed themselves as he tried to portray just how serious he was about this.

The boy met the powerful birds gaze unflinchingly, and he knew that he couldn't deny the bird the knowledge any longer. "Hmm.." the boy hummed out, thinking over how to go about this.

"Close your eyes, all of you present in this clearing." The boy had almost uttered it in a commanding tone, but for some reason the old Pidgeot found himself closing them as soon as the words had been uttered, like he had already known what to do..

They all closed their eyes in unision, the Caterpies, Rattatas and all of the Pidgey evolutionary line.

A small breeze ran through the clearing as the air around them once again got heavy, and just for a split second, they had all heard it.

The Pidgeots eyes shot open in shock, the sharp eyes darting around everywhere trying to spot the ever so plain human clothes. But around him was nothing, nothing but his grand forest and his own kin.

A small leave rustled away into the sky, almost everyone trailing it's random pattern of floating, thinking about the one word they had all heard.

It was almost as if the wind had whispered..

'_Yes._'

* * *

Route 1 had always been a beautiful place, trees with leaves of all kinds of colors. The same leaves which littered the ground he walked on, crunching with every step he took. It was like an ever changing carpet, nature's carpet.

He usually did take it a little bit slower in his journey around these parts of the world, he could never deny that he was abit too attached to Kanto then the other regions. Sure Sinnoh was beautiful with it's white layer of snow and thin ice, but that's just what it was, only snow and ice. Nothing could grow and thrive in such a climate, it was impossible save the few exceptions he had stumbled upon, but they all too scarce to be noticeable by the human population of the Sinnoh Region.

But life of all kinds thrived in Kanto, everything from Pokémon to humans, even the greenery he was all too happy to be looking at right now. It's population was happy in their simplistic worlds, enjoying the seas of the world that was so close to the mainland, enjoying the blazing sun during the summers.

When was the last time he had enjoyed himself, he had to wonder? He couldn't even remember.

It hadn't been long since he left the Pidgeots parts of the grand forest, sure they might rule and breed in the bigger parts of Route 1 but surely didn't own everything. No, he could see hordes of Rattata's following their ever vigilant Raticate mothers, despite not being in the parts where they were prey'd upon. However the mother was right in being wary of it's surroundings, life consumes the weak and unaware out in the wild.

The strongest survive so to speak, but then again wasn't that how it was supposed to be? Motivation to protect yourself and others, wanting to protect your kin from harms way. Sacrificing yourself if it meant your important ones could see another sunrise. Perhaps the humans should rephrase their saying of "The strongest survive", maybe it should be "Those with a heart big enough to put themselves in front of others, they show true strength.".

Perhaps it was too long? Humans had never been a fan of long sentences with meaningful content, if history was anything to go by. But then again they had researchers who devoted their lifes for the better of Humankind and Pokékind alike, although he had never actually witnessed a researching professor in action..

Well perhaps he could find out for himself, with his own eyes just what they were up too these days. He was nearing a small town where if he recalled they had a research center and if he could remember correctly it was the towns biggest tourist attraction, although from the recent years he understood it was rather.. lacking aswell.

Though the research facilitys name was the "Oak Corral" or perhaps it was just the pokémon's haven in the research facility that was called Corral? He honestly didn't know.

He had never been curious enough to actually socialize with the humans, sure he has had his chances to do so bit it had never felt.. right so to speak. He didn't get their so called "slang" and their "curses" as they had labeld them as. One of them in particular was confusing, but that was a completely different story for another time.

He could see the top of the Oak Corral peaking out above the trees, it's majestic form up on that hill coming more into view. It truly was the watchful mother of Pallet, always in view for the whole town to look at with affection.

"Just like a Rattatas mother, huh?" the boy mused to himself, gazing at the new almost full view of the research facility. True to his own words, he could see the resemblence with a fond smile.

He could see the tall grass that separated Pallet from Route 1 now, just waiting to reveal the quiet town to any adventure hungry youngster, or perhaps it showed the citizens of Pallet a vast world with endless possibilities when they go through it? Either way, it was a gateway in a sense. A gate between two different worlds.

Within arms reach of the tall grass, he slowly ventured through. His eyes landing on the quiet town of Pallet, taking it in. He took a step or two forward, entering the spectacular haven of-

"**Stop right there, young man!**" was bit out, startling him from his thoughts.

He felt someone give his right arm a harsh tug, his state of mind going from peaceful to falling towards the ground in a matter of seconds.

A thud against the back of his head later and he found himself staring up into the irritated visage of an aged man. The old mans feet just below his head as the human shook his head back and forth, clearly annoyed at him for who knows what.

"You youngsters never learn, do you?" It was a rhetorical question, or so he hoped. The fall hadn't hurt at all but being human had it's downsides, being disoriented was apparently one of them. He watched the aged man sigh before a hand was in front of his face.

"Get up son, you'll get dirty laying on the ground like that." Deciding that it was best to accept the mans lift towards the height of humans, the boy grasped the hand, lifting himself up from the ground.

As he was dusting his now dirty clothes off, he decided to ask why the strange old man had stopped him. "Did i do something wrong, sir?" he attempted to ask as innocently as possible. Truth be told he had no idea what so ever what he had done wrong. Perhaps the man was a garderner? Though he didn't really look the part.

"Did you do something wrong?" the man asked almost shocked, "Pah, you youngsters don't even bother to learn the rules of this region before waltsing into life, do you?" The man shook his head, clearly annoyed at such obvious break of rule, although the boy didn't really know what kind of law this was, this man sure was strict to enforce this "law" so seriously.

Putting up an almost tired expression, one that clearly showed his old age, the man asked "Don't think i didn't see you try to sneak through the tall grass into Route 1, most of you youngsters do without the safety of a Pokémon." The old man put a palm to his forehead, shaking his head tiredly, "You do not have a pokémon do you, son?".

Truth be told he didn't know how he was supposed to answer the old man, sure he could probably make a Pokémon appear out of nowhere, but the humans had built these contraptions to capture the elemental creatures, a Pokéball they called it he remembered and he was pretty sure they had a "summoning" sound of some kind. Tricking the old man probably wouldn't be easy, but couldn't he just attempt to talk himself out of it? Say that he had one and decided not to show it? Yes, that was a reasonable plan.

"Sir, there was no nee-" he started, but was cut straight off by the aged man.

"You do not have a pokémon, correct?" he reaffirmed. The old mans facial expressions seemed to leave no room for arguments, as if he had seen this lie a thousand of times in his life. Perhaps he had?

With a sigh of his own, realizing he couldn't and probably shouldn't have lied to the old man, he murmured a quick "No." in the mans direction.

The old mans face brightened considerably and with a friendly pat on the shoulder he spoke encouragingly "See? Not that hard to tell the truth, young man."

He couldn't really answer with more then a shrug, but it seemed the gesture didn't put the old man off. The aged man seemed to size him up for a second before he posed another question, one he really didn't know less have thought of he had to answer in his entire existence.

"How old are you, son?" His expression clearly curious for some reason, and there was some form of almost.. childlike glee in the furthest corners of his eyes.

He hadn't really thought much over how he would answer such a question, truth be told he hadn't even expected to be posed such a question, especially not in human form. Sure he always took the form of a human boy going through the humans maturing stages, puberty they called it. At which age again did they enter such a stage? He should really know these kinds of things..

Was it at year 20 it started happening? Then again he had seen a 20 year old male and they looked nothing like he did now. Maybe at 11? But he had seen an 11 year old male aswell, and they were not alike him in any way.

This was going to be hard.

He had to let out a sigh, he really just had to chance it didn't he? Just his luck. He figured he could go for some number inbetween them. Yes, that would work for now.

"Uh.. I'm 15 years old, sir." he answered as seriously as possible. Looking the aged man straight in the eyes, trying to convey just how serious he was. Perhaps it was working? He honestly had no clue.

The man seemed to stare intently for what felt like quite a few minutes, until he broke out in the biggest grin the boy had seen and would probably ever see.

"15 years old without a Pokémon?" The man asked almost in shock and.. happiness? Was it something he said?

"That's.. correct." the boy answered hesitantly.

The man's eyes was shining with giddyness and excitement, so much that he had to look away. That is, until he felt a sharp tug in his right arm, almost dragging him away from their previous spot.

"Boy, that will not do, we are fixing that right now young man!" the old man said passionately. Leading him away from the apparently dangerous grass pathway.

Shocked speechless, he wordlessly followed. He didn't know what was happening.

But then again hadn't he always deep down wanted to socialize with humans?

'Well now i can.' the boy thought with a sweatdrop as he was dragged away towards what he now saw was the Oak Corral.

* * *

As they were nearing the entrance to the grand research facility, he couldn't help but wonder what was in store for him right now. An old man had suddenly dragged him away towards the large structure, as giddy as a Haunter who just found it's new plaything.

Now that he thought about it, hadn't the old man mentioned that he was gonna "fix" something related to him? He didn't have a good feeling about this.

As the they neared the entrance the old man skipped a few steps ahead, like a child of some kind and opened the door, ushering the boy inside. "Come inside young man, i can assure you it'll be worth your while." the man said with a small smile on his face as he stood by the entrance, holding the door open.

Deciding that he probably wouldn't get out of this unless he did something really unnecessary, he hesistantly went through the doorway.

Once inside he couldn't help but look around in awe, this was nothing like he had expected the research facility to look like on the inside. Sure he had expected it to be.. pristine and such but this..

This was just over the top. A part of the entrance room itself was like a library, probably having most of the titles that covered Pokémon genetics and the like.

He had gone inside an "Hotel" as the humans called it once, this was atleast 10 times the beauty of those buildings, it had absolutely nothing on this was like stepping into a different world in a way.

A hand pat his shoulder and he turned around to see the professor making his way around him towards the other door inside the almost lobby-like room he had entered.

"Come this way, son." he heard through the doorway, and complied to the old mans command. He walked over the pristine tiles covering the floors, entering the doorway the old man had disappeared through. Inside he found a medium-sized office space with bookcases and the likes once more, but a few of those electronic devices aswell covering his desk aswell as the other desks inside the room.

Although now that he looked closer this room probably hadn't been cleaned for what looked like a week or two.

He seemed like a busy man, the boy decided. He was probably a very highly respected man to have access to these rooms.

The man motioned for him to sit down on the chair opposite of the desk chairs placement, there seemed to be no harm in doing so. Taking a seat he looked around the office, now that he could look closer, no.. this wasn't just a medium sized office, this was larger then the lobby-like hallway he had first been allowed into. This seemed to be a lab of some kind..

Before his thoughts could wander too far, the old man interrupted him by starting the conversation he had forgot he was curious about. This research facility was intriguing to say the least.

"If you hadn't known already, the name is Professor Samuel Oak." the old man introduced himself.

He had not known that, but then again it was kinda obvious now that he put more thought into it. Only the owner of an highly praised research facility would have an office this grand.

Deciding it was best to stick to formalities he answered, "Pleased to meet you, Professor."

The old mans lips curved upwards in a small smile as he easily responded, "The pleasures all mine, young man." The professors eyes seemed to search for something in his gaze before continuing, "Tell me son, what's your name?".

Now _this _topped the questions of all the things he hadn't been expected to be asked in his exsistence. He hadn't really ever planned to socialize with humans never the less have thought of coming up a name for his apparent human persona.

How was he supposed to answer this one then? He almost let out a frustrated sigh as his gaze searched the room, there had to be something that could give inspiration for a name of some kind. Anything.

He surely couldn't be named after some unwashed mugs or book covers that he was sure the professor had read a hundred times each. No there had to be something..

Deciding that he should just spout out something random, it wasn't like the man would judge him for his name right?

He was just about to open his mouth to say "Mug" before his eyes stopped on the Ashtray on the table...

There he had it. Ashtray would be his name, it was genius. The professor would never see through it.

"The name's Ashtr-" before he could even finish his sentence the professor cut through with his own answer.

"So Ash's the name, hmm?" Or _Ash_ worked, this old man..

The professor's face broke out into a small smile as he continued, "Say Ash, have you ever wanted to have a Pokémon? You see every youngster at the age of ten comes to me for their first pokémon. Their starter so to speak."

The boy nodded his understanding at the last part of Oak's sentence, he knew children would come to research facilitys to be handed captured pokémon to.. "Train" they called it. He never really understood why the humans would do this, but they seemed to enjoy it for some reason.

Apparently his nod was precieved as he if he had wanted a pokémon, for the old professors eyes shined up like a star with excitement, becoming almost uncomfortable to look into.

"So you wish to become a Pokémon trainer I see!" the professor spoke passionately, apparently not giving him a chance to confirm that was what he wanted.

"Professo-" the boy now apparently called Ash tried to reason but was cut off by what sounded like the professor talking to himself in his almost hypnotic trance of excitement.

"But ofcourse, which young man would deny themselves the chance to become a Pokémon trainer?" the old professor recounted passionately, "Follow me boy, i'll make sure your dream comes true!"

Oak's legs sprung to life as if they were in their maturing stages, almost skipping away through a lab door into some foreign room. Strange sounds coming from the room after his entrance.

Ash sat in silent shock, eyes wide as he watched the door which the professor had almost run through. Had he just in some strange way accepted to become one of these "trainers" that hold their elemental creatures in the so called "Pokéballs"?

'_Please tell me I haven't._' he thought desperately.

"Hurry Ash!" was heard through the door, "Dreams don't come for those who sit and wait!" was spoken passionately to him through the doorway.

It seemed like he did.

* * *

He stood before the professor, absolutely confused as to what was happening.

Maybe standing before the professor would be to put it lightly, the professor was zipping around the room like a hyperactive Aipom.

Muttering to himself, opening books left and right, looking through stacks of paper. For what he didn't know and to be honest wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

The fact that he might have accepted to become a trainer of a Pokémon was a.. odd one.

He had no clue about what said trainers did in their lifes or what they did after they walked out from this confusing puzzle of an apparent initation ritual. Then again he couldn't be actually considering to follow through with it? Could he?

"Aha!" was heard and Ash's eyes immidiately darted to the professor, who was now pressing buttons on these odd square-shaped electronics.

The professor noticed Ash's eyes on him, immidiately thinking it was curiosity he was seeing in those eyes, started to tell the boy all about the situation or well.. most of it.

"You see my boy, I had a group of young trainers come in earlier today for their starter Pokémon! Sadly I had only prepared three of the original starters we have here in Kanto." the professor explained, stroking his chin before continuing, "This means you'll have to recieve an unofficial starter Pokémon, but do not worry Ash, it will not be any less powerful if raised properly!"

The boy tilted his head in confusion at the last part, ignoring the fact that he was about to recieve a pokémon.

Sure, he knew that different Pokémon were different in terms of strength or agility but to raise them into powerful beings was a foriegn concept. Could they be trained to withstand their weaknesses and improve on their individual strenghts? It was an interesting theory, maybe this could answer some of his own questions aswell, this trainer thing.

After a moment he noticed the Professor was looking at him for agreement to his passionate statement, the boy could only dumbly nod his head at whatever wisdom the old man was spouting about this trainer job.

"So you agree!" was more or less shouted rhetorically in a passionate burst of energy from the old man, "I knew I was right to pick you Ash, you're just fit for this special job."

It took him a minute before he fully grasped what the old man had said.

Wait a second, _special_ job?

"Special job, professor?" Ash asked the professor, not letting his confusion and very slight worry slip into his voice.

The professor looked up from his work that he had resumed, "Oh yes, how silly of me to let something like that slip!" The professor breathed out in apparent relief.

"You see, I've developed something called a Pokédex! It has the capability to record the information of every Pokémon known to date, even it's moves, gender and even preference of food." Oak finished, smiling proudly.

Now that was impressive Ash had to agree, for technology to advance so much, maybe he should look into it himself when he got out of this situation.

"And I want you to record the information of every Pokémon you see on your journey, i'm sure you'll see a lot of different species as the world is just full of them." the professor continued with a soft smile but his eyes looking at him trying to gauge out his reaction.

Now this he would not agree to, this was all too much to handle, he had to make an excuse for this.

"Professo-" he started only to get cut off by the professor. '_Does he really need to cut me off everytime?_' the boy thought to himself a tiny bit annoyed.

"Now I understand that this is a lot of responsibility Ash, but you have to understand I can't put a 10 year old up to this sort of task neither can I put up myself to this task." the Professor continued, clueless about his original meaning as usual.

"While I do have my fair share of other options, all of them have their obligations to other parties. I would have asked my grandson but he's too busy with running the Virdian City Gym." Oak had an almost apologetic smile on his face, _almost._

"So you see Ash, I do not have many options and you are the perfect candidate for a thing like this!" he insisted.

To be honest, Ash had no idea what to do right now. The professor was looking at him desperately as if afraid he would reject his idea. And once again to be honest, he almost wanted to.

But it made him think, for a human to look so desperate, it made him feel oddly enough, _sad_. This old man had lived out his life and was asking someone of who he thought was of a younger generation to do what he could not and would probably love to do himself.

It was heartbreaking. Maybe, just maybe.. he could this one thing for the old man.

He could probably go to some secluded area with the Pokédex and gather one of every species but.. wouldn't that be disrespectful towards the Professor? He didn't seem like the kind that was only hungry for information but that he genuinly wanted him to have a wonderful experience while doing this.

No, he would do this as the Professor wanted. He would do this trainer journey or whatever it was, if only to make the old man happy.

He had never been a good man to the inhabitants of the world that needed him the most.

This was a chance for change and it was gonna turn into _the_ moment of change.

"Alright." he conceded with a sigh and the old mans smile seemed to remove the past twenty years from his aged visage.

"Wonderful, young man!" the man almost laughed out in what seemed to be relief, before he asked a question that he did not know would change his entire experience of this whole journey.

"So Ash, any preference in types for your starter?"

It was an easy question in itself, which type the Pokémon he would recieve should have.

But was the Pokémon he would recieve be tamed and accustomed to humans? He wasn't exactly human so to speak, so that could pose a minor problem later on. Atleast that's what he thought.

'_I'm really taking this seriously, aren't I?_' he thought to himself with an almost painful smile.

He supposed that the Pokémon shouldn't have too many attachments to being cuddled or fawned over by the humans who raised them here, shouldn't he just ask for the newly captured ones? Wouldn't that be easier?

"Uh, Professor," he started, almost unsure of what to say, would this be rude? "Would you mind if I looked at your most recent captures?"

The Professor looked at him for a second in surprise before a serious expression clouded the surprised one instantly, "I would not recommend picking one of them, but if you're insistant on seeing our latest capture you have to promise me one thing young man."

It was as serious as he had so far seen the Professor, it was a little bit unnerving, "Promise what?" he asked, curious and a tiny bit worried.

"The Pokémon I'll present you will be your starter, no questions asked." the Professor continued seriously. His expression leaving no room for arguments.

Maybe this would help him pick atleast, he had no idea which type he preferred cause to be honest he hadn't really put much thought into it. He wasn't into choosing just one, everything was equal in his mind, no matter type or gender.

But this would be positive, it would ease his mind and hopefully later on, help the Pokémon he was given to get better accustomed to being a captured one, however he would help it get more accustomed to it he had no idea.

But hey, he had to atleast put up some form of goal for this thing right?

"I promise." he responded, trying to be as equally serious as the Professor before him.

Samuel Oak looked over him for a minute before giving an approving nod, "Wait here." he said shortly before disappearing through another doorway.

It didn't take long for the aged Professor to return, this time with a red and white sphere in his hand, a Pokéball he recognized it as.

The Professor wore a frown as he walked back to his spot in front of the young man, "Are you absolutely sure of your decision, Ash?" the old man questioned with both seriousness and a tiny bit of worry.

He wouldn't hesitate no more, he was certain this was the best decision. "Yes." he answered with firmly, his expression determined and ready for whatever elemental creature would be inside the Pokéball.

A small smile worked it's way onto the aged mans face, "Well Ash, meet your new companion." he spoke, holding up the red and white sphere before releasing the creature inside, it materializing almost instantly before him, it's white form rapidly taking it's normal colour after it's release.

The white faded and the creature opened it's small eyes and looked around the lab they were in carefully, searching for what Ash didn't know, but it was almost.. afraid.

That is, before it took in the sight of the old Professor and it's mood going from afraid to furious.

'_Hey, old man! I was eating those delicious cables!_' it spoke, raising a tiny yellow fist at the old man, as if threatening to kick the old mans ass.

'_He probably could_.' Ash thought with a sweatdrop, watching the interaction between the yellow rodent known as a Pikachu and the Professor.

The Professor himself looked amused at the small rodents gestures, obviously not knowing what the little creature had just said. But then again it was probably obvious to him that the little Pokémon had threatened him.

"He's a feisty one as you can clearly see." professor Oak spoke in amusement, keeping his eyes on the small Pikachu before him.

Ash had to agree with a nod, the little thing had a temper that was clearly shown through this little display.

Pikachu instantly looked towards Ash as he had completely forgotten about the other human in the room.

Their eyes met and they continued to stare at eachother, Ash's ones with acceptance and Pikachu's with an unimpressed look. That is, until he understood just what this was.

Pikachu looked back and forth between the two human males before asking the professor, '_You're really gonna give me to this idiot?_' gesturing towards Ash with his paw in disbelief.

Ash was amused at the statement but didn't show it, this little critter had no idea what was coming for him, did it?

The Professor took the questions as if Pikachu was curious as to who this other person was and responded with ease, "Pikachu, meet your new trainer."

The small Pokémon looked to Ash again, sizing him up before sighing. '_Rather this guy then some kiddo who would try to snuggle with me any chance he gets_.' the Pikachu said in defeat, thinking of the people in this facility that cuddled him as soon as he had gotten captured.

They had tasted the thunder and their tongues got burned off. He was atleast satisfied with that.

"Looks like he has accepted you Ash." the Professor spoke happily, obviously having gotten this whole thing wrong.

Ash sweatdropped at the Professors words, 'accepted' might be taking it too far for now.

Deciding that he shouldn't waste more time here, and he was sure Pikachu didn't want too either, he asked the Professor about what he would need on his journey and what his first goal should be, it couldn't hurt to have help right?

"While training should be your first objective, your first goal should be to defeat the first Gym Leader in Pewter City, it is a challening task for new trainers and should give you a clear idea about what being a trainer is all about." the old man answered easily, scratching his chin before continuing, "As for what you'll need, i'll provide you with the basic things such as Pokéballs and of course your Pokédex."

Ash nodded, taking in the information. So he had to battle with Pikachu? He.. could probably do that.

The old man sighed with a tired smile, "Although I cannot help you with much more then that, i'd recommend to train your Pokémon regularily though not enough to make your Pokémon hurt itself or others." Oak finished, letting out a sigh once again.

"I understand Professor." Ash answered, taking the Pokéball out of the old mans hand.

"I know I shouldn't be pushing the task of the Pokédex onto you, but please son, do the best you can." Oak said with what could only be described as an expression torn between being apologetic and serious.

Pikachu looked between the two humans curiously, before tensing and waiting for the Pokéball that would probably be forced onto him. He shivered at the thought.

For the first time in a long time, Ash actually had motivation for something. "Don't worry, I'll make sure it gets done one way or another." the boy answered seriously.

Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed Pikachu's discomfort for something, but decided to deal with it later, that is until the Professor probably voiced Pikachu's concern.

"One more thing before we finish this Ash, this Pikachu seems to have great issues with being comfortable inside a Pokéball, i'd recommend having him outside of it most of the times." Oak spoke seriously, obviously caring about the yellow rodents well-being.

Ash nodded, now knowing the reason for the Pikachu's discomfort or well hopefully that was the reason for it.

"Well then," the Professor started, handing over five shrunken Pokéballs and a Pokédex to the young man, "I wish you all the luck on your journey Ash." he said it sincerely, he really wanted him to have a great time like most youngsters did.

"Thank you Professor." the boy gave a nod in the mans direction as he stashed away the Pokédex and Pokéballs in the pocket of his pants.

Ash decided to crouch down in front of the small rodent who was looking up curiously albeit very displeasingly at him and said, "You ready to go then Pikachu?" with a kind smile on his face.

The small rodent looked around the lab before turning to Ash and gave a small nod, anything was better then this place in his opinion.

Ash stood up and walked towards the exit of the building he remembered, but not before saying his goodbye to the aged professor which was returned in kind.

Pikachu lazily walked next to him on his way out, not even stopping to acknowledge the grand rooms they passed on the way out.

He figured this would be a long day.

A very long day.

* * *

They had been walking in silence for a good part of an hour now.

Not a word had been spoken between the two and it was starting to bother Ash. Though he hadn't expected the rodent to be cheerful with his current situation given his reaction inside of the research facility but he had atleast expected the Pokémon to talk to him.

Wasn't that what Pokémon usually did with humans? Talked to them?

It was what he had observed when these "trainers" had originally started appearing, though he had not searched deeper as most seemed to get along with eachother, there was no need to intervene when everything was peaceful, like it mostly always had been. Normal.

Then it hit him.

He sighed when he realized why the Pokémon hadn't talked to him at all. It was obvious that a normal human wouldn't understand anything of what the little creature would try to convey. Why would the Pokémon even attempt to talk in such a situation?

Should he comment on something the Pikachu had said in the lab? But wouldn't that just be suspicious?

_'Oh hey, i'm your new trainer and i can totally understand you like no other human can!'_

No that would simply not work at all. But if he were gonna do this trainer thing seriously, he had to atleast set up a base relationship between trainer and Pokémon, should he not?

But then again, according to the Pokémons statement inside the Oak Corral, this "Idiot" was better then a small child. Not a good compliment but atleast a start, or so he thought.

Shouldn't he just randomly start talking to the Pokémon, try to lighten up the mood? He would notice if the Pikachu was listening as the movement of the rodents ears would signify if he had heard him or not. But was that really a good base for a relationship between two individuals that truthfully, at least in the start, wanted nothing to do with eachother?

He let out a sigh, closing his eyes for a brief moment.

He honestly had no idea.

Then there was the question with revealing himself or not to the Pokémon. Could he honestly do that? It he did that, the only problem would be for his Pokémon to look at him differently. Pokémon can't communicate with humans fluently except through psychic links, but that could be taken care of.

With this journey or whatever he was going on, would it matter if he revealed himself? It would probably matter to his Pokémon, being decieved like that would hurt anyone.

What if they were attacked by someone with ill intent?

Would he protect them if they were trying to harm his Pikachu? Of course, even now he would protect the little creature if something like that came up.

But.. if it came up, would the little critter feel decieved if he hadn't told him? This was way too confusing.

Honesty would go a long way in any basic friendship, shouldn't he just be just that, honest? Wouldn't that be enough to remove this invisible wall they had between them right now?

Truth be told he knew the Pikachu would freak out if he revealed himself to the little rodent. It wasn't everyday you would see someone like him.

'_Not like anyone has ever had such a day._' he thought with a slight smile but it quickly faded as he realized what had to be done.

He had to tell the Pokémon the truth, it would be easier if he just got through with it. It would even be fitting with that confusing "curse" as the humans called it.

'Arceus be damned', he would do this.

Looking at the small creature walking next to him, he quickly figured out the words he would need to say.

A small smile appeared on his face.

"You know, it's not nice to call people idiots." he started, looking at the creature who's ears perked up at his voice.

A snort was heard from the Pikachu's direction, '_Ha! You're all idiots, you trainer kids.'_ he said quickly in retort, shaking his small head.

That was until the Pikachu completely stopped his trek and just stared at him.

Ash, noticing his newfound companions lack of moving forward, immidiately stopped and turned around to face the small creature.

Pikachu was looking at him as if he had just grown two heads. Perhaps he should so all this would be easier? But he quickly dismissed the thought, there was no time for games now.

The small creature took a few unsteady steps towards him, standing just in front of him before looking up at him with wide eyes, asking in a small voice, '_How did you know what I said?_'.

Ash looked down on the small elemental creature that was looking at him with curiousity, nervousness and a small amount of fear that could be seen in his small eyes.

It honestly hurt abit, that his little creature had to be afraid of him right now. But no, he would ease his companions worries. He only wished the best for this little Pikachu, as he did with all Pokémon.

"I can understand you." Ash told him in short, making sure the creature knew the obvious.

The creature looked at him with a new found interested for a second before his eyes returned to their hesitant form.

'_I can hear that.._' Pikachu started, looking straight up into Ash's eyes before continuing '_Now, how can you understand me?_' the electric type asked him.

The Pikachu's form was tense he noticed, as if it was ready to run at any oppurtunity, he had to salvage this quick with something that would probably keep the Pokémon interested.

"I am not human." Ash said, not knowing how to phrase it differently to the smaller creature.

He saw the Pikachu process his words, it's eyes widening in shock before once again look at him with hesitant but curious eyes. '_Then.. what are you? Who are you?_' Pikachu asked, uneasy.

Ash looked away from the Pikachu for a second, thinking it over briefly. Now would be the time to show the small creature his true apperance. Inform him who's Pokémon Pikachu was and hopefully, he would be accepted as the Pokémons trainer for the duration of this journey.

There was no turning back now, his Pokémon would be the first to witness it.

His true form.

The world tinted itself light blue for a moment, the sound of the wind rushing through the greenery stopped itself completely. The movement of the bushes and the chattering of Pidgey, Rattata and all other occupants of the forest stilled, all that could be heard was a simple melody replacing the whispering winds of Route 1.

A melody that continued playing itself, it's soothing sound imbuing itself into the surrounding greenery, giving it an almost ethereal glow that continued building itself, blinding its only watcher until it reached it's crescendo.

Pikachu's vision was completely white, the only thing he could hear was the simple melody that kept playing repeatedly, it's soothing tones forming a cocoon around him, made out of feelings that could only be explained as protectiveness and pure calm.

Despite being momentarily blind, depite not hearing anything but the soothing music, he felt _safe_ for some reason.

And for a split second, he felt a large presense crash over the entire forest before it vanished completely.

The blinding light and the music eventually started to fade slowly, it's melody coming to an end.

A small yellow rodent opened one eye carefully and then another, trying to keep his keep his cool amongst all the disorientated things that were happening.

The world was tinted a light shade of blue, giving everything an otherwordly look.

But one thing he noticed was that everything was still, not a thing moved, leaves of all kinds of colors was stuck in the air as if time had frozen it.

'_It is indeed frozen in time._' was spoken behind him and he almost twisted his neck to look around at the voice that had commented his thoughts.

And then it felt like the world stopped again.

Before him it stood, he didn't even know it's name. He knew it by instinct just who this was.

It was if it's entire being called only one name and one name alone to those who gazed at it's form.

_Arceus_

His most basic thoughts screamed at him it's name. Giving him a title that has only been told in tales meant for hatchlings, but his raw instincts and senses couldn't even start to deny anything, they were only confirming this.

The Alpha Pokémon, The Original One was in front of him.

It's smoldering eyes, a mess of red and green, was staring at him so intently that it almost physically hurt.

Then suddenly in rapid succession images began to flood his mind of him walking with a human in the most plain clothes you'd ever see, disheavled raven hair and chocolate brown eyes. The human was talking to him as they walked, commenting on his earlier outburst of the word idiot, then saying it's not human and then.. it showed him this.

He..

He had called the Original One an idiot, right to his face.

A feeling that could only be described as dread and pure fear settled in his stomach at the revelation.

He had insulted a god, _the_ god.

Arceus only kept his stare trained on him, not moving an inch. The Alpha Pokémon was probably thinking of how to punish him or whatever he now would do.

'_You seem to think of me as cruel, Pikachu._' started a voice in his mind, the same voice that had called to him just moments ago and being as terrified as he was, he completely missed the slight amusement in the voice.

'_I-I.._' Pikachu tried to answer but found that he couldn't get a single word out, he was utterly terrified of what was about to happen.

'_Ease your worries, I mean you no harm._' Arceus spoke to him, the gods words almost washing him over with so much concern and protectiveness that his earlier outbursts of complete and utter fear seemed irrelevant. But no.. this had to be a trick, he had insulted him.

'_I assure you my friend, that I am honest in my words. I have no desire to cause you any harm._' was heard and once again he felt that wave of concern and protectiveness that drowned every other feeling he had.

He didn't even know why this was happening or if this was a dream, but he had just insulted someone, a god no less and he had to apologize in some way, he couldn't just get out of this with a pat on the shoulder saying 'Good job, Pikachu', no that wasn't how it worked.

The God Pokémon took a few steps forward, towering the smaller Pokémon as his neck-like upperbody craned down a tiny bit to look at him.

'_Apology accepted._' he heard from the much larger Pokémon as he peered up at it's large frame as it's voice continued, '_However, since you seem so intent on making it up to me.._' Arceus trailed off.

Pikachu just stared dumbly up at the creature he had heard stories of as but a hatchling, thinking that it was probably gonna be to try out some torture chamber for the worlds bad guys.

Arceus eyes was glowing with amusement as he peered down on the smaller creature, '_How about you train hard as my Pokémon on this journey?_' the God Pokémon questioned him.

It took a minute or two for the electric rodent to fully grasp the question.

When he did, his frame went rigid, staring up at the Alpha Pokémon with wide eyes.

'_That'd be more then enough compensation for the insult._' Arceus commented, looking at the little electric Pokémon before him.

Pikachu was lost in his own little world at the Original One's statement.

Two words kept repeating themselves in his head.

_My Pokémon_

He was the Pokémon of the Original One..

The Pikachu was looking up at the Alpha Pokémon with it's wide eyes still, this was too much to handle.

The small creature took one small step forward, then another, slowly and clumsily he walked up to Arceus.

And then, then.. he clung to the god's leg. Hugging it with all his might, not letting go.

Arceus, freaking the Original One had just forgiven him for insulting him and accepted him as it's Pokémon.

It was all too way much for him to handle.

The small creature almost felt like crying in happiness and relief at the words.

Arceus angled his upperbody to peer down at the small creature that was hugging his manifested forms leg, a feeling of fondness building inside of him at the action.

'_I'll take that as a Yes?_' the God Pokémon commented, amusement tinted his voice.

He felt the Pikachu nod against his leg, not removing himself from him at all and didn't look like it even wanted to.

Maybe this was what the old man had wanted him to experience. The feeling of having a friend no matter what, the feeling of being accepted for who you are.

He only felt his protective instincts increase at the small mouse's happiness that made the whole forest feel like it was ten times brighter.

Arceus brought down his upperbody and head to the smaller creature's height and nudged the electric type lightly. It pulled away slightly from his leg to look at him curiously before it was filled with pure happiness and acceptence in it's eyes.

'_Friends?_' the Original One questioned him.

The Pikachu's face lit up into one of the brightest smiles he had ever had the pleasure of seeing.

'_Friends!_'

* * *

**I've been sitting on this chapter and a few more for a year or so now, figured since I lost the passion to continue writing I could upload it and try to find some of that inspiration again.**

**Even though I'm already a few chapters in, whom I'll probably upload aswell when the time is right, I still accept ideas you'd wish to see in future chapters.**

**Criticism for my third-language tier english skills are welcome aswell.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Creator**

* * *

They had been talking with eachother for the past six hours while making their way through Route 1. It was already dark outside and his companion was tiredly sitting on his shoulder but despite the time of day the Pikachu was eagerly telling stories and talking about his past as if they had been friends since the dawn of time.

'_And then this big mean bird thing you know tried to get me!_' the pikachu described excitedly despite its slumped form, but a smile was present on his features.

"Bird thing?" Ash questioned with a small smile of his own as he listened in to the story of his companion.

'_No need for details, the feathery guy was flying that's enough info!_' the mouse replied quickly before continuing, '_anyways, he swooped in for me you know, being all cocky and stuff thinking it can get this awesome piece of mouse, but then when I fired a thundershock at the bird, it just smashed right into a tree trying to dodge it!_' Pikachu finished with as he rolled around in laughter on Ash's shoulder, while the boy chuckled lightly at his friends tale.

"Any idea what type of pokémon it was?" he questioned as the chuckles had subsided.

'_Podoto something? I don't know, all I know was that the guy had serious issues with navigation!_' the mouse mused with a big grin on his face.

Ash just shook his head in amusement at the electric types behaviour.

But what the pikachu had brought up was a subject he had completely forgotten to talk about, _battling_.

Now how was he gonna do this? He had observed that it was the trainers that commanded the Pokémon to perform different kinds of moves in detail, asking them to dodge and such.

Could he do that with Pikachu? He really needed help from the others perspective on this.

"Hey Pikachu?" Ash questioned, gaining the attention from the mouse on his shoulder, his ears perking up.

Noticing, Ash continued "I was just wondering what we were gonna do with battling," he started, seeing the electric type tilt his head with a thoughtful expression.

"I lack the much needed experience in battling as a trainer, even how to command you for the simplest things," he frowned before continuing, "got any ideas?".

The pikachu seemed to think for a short while before answering in a hesitant voice, '_Shouldn't you.. you know, maybe know all of these things?_' the mouse started, '_I figured since you're uh.. you, you'd have all the skills needed..?_' he trailed off, obviously unsure.

Ash looked at Pikachu with a small frown on his features, "I didn't search too deeply into trainers when they first started coming into existence, as long as it was peaceful there was no need to put a stop to it," the boy explained, "knowledge beyond the basics was not needed."

'_So to put it bluntly, you don't know anything?_' Pikachu said with a incredulous look.

Ash gave the mouse a small apologetic smile, "Well learning is always fun," he mused.

His companion gave a sigh and slumped against his shoulder once again, '_Well I guess i'll start with what moves I know.._' the mouse grumbled.

"That'd be a good start." Ash said with an encouraging smile.

Pikachu held up his small fingers and started to count, '_So I know Thundershock, Thunder wave and Quick Attack, three moves.' _he finished, holding up three tiny fingers to Ash.

"Thunder wave? That's nice, it'll come to good use I imagine." he complimented before he got an idea.

Before he could get a response to his compliment he posed a question to the small rodent, "You know I sort-of accepted this gym-leader challenge right? Beating all those people and some league?" he waited for the pikachu to give him a nod before continuing, "Good, how about we start training for that right now?" he asked, a bright smile on his face.

The rodent looked warily at the almost too innocent smile on the boy's face before asking, _'What do you have in mind?_' he swore that Ash almost had an evil glint in his eyes.

This wasn't good.

"Well first, since from what I've noticed from previous research is that usually gyms have a single type. Let's see if I can find out which type the first one has.." Ash trailed off, hand going to his pocket to fish up the pokédex he had recieved.

It took a few minutes but he finally got the information he needed out of the eletronic device, with a tiny bit of help from his companion of course.

"Rock-types.." he muttered as he read over the bio of the Pewter City Gym.

His eyes stopped on something though.

"Two versus two battles?" he questioned out loud, which seemed to gain the attention of his pokémon.

'_Guess you gotta capture another pokémon if you wanna do the gym challenge._' Pikachu said, stating the obvious.

"I suppose I have to, however we can start preparing for it right now and we'll take it as it comes." Ash said before turning to look at his companion, "Rock-types huh?" he mused, a smile forming on his face.

"Think you're up for the challenge?"

His companion rolled his eyes, '_As if a pile of pebbles can stop me,_' the pikachu huffed, clearly offended at his trainers words, he could beat any pebble that stood in his way.

Ash chuckled and patted the mouses head carefully, "The moves a Pikachu can learn to effectively deal with Rock-types would be Dig, Brick Break and Iron Tail." he explained and he felt his Pokémon nod under his hand.

"And I'm assuming you wish to get these moves through your own hard work, without me influencing your energy and the likes?" he questioned, feeling quite sure of what the answer to that one would be.

_'While it'd be nice and all to magically learn these moves it would be.. wrong, besides you're gonna train me on how to use them anyways._' Pikachu answered with a shrug and a small smile, '_It wouldn't be fair to other pokémon, so lets do this like everyone else, alright?_' the mouse asked, looking at Ash with his smile.

It was the answer he had expected to be given and it made him proud over his companion, they were gonna do this the right way.

No shortcuts, no cheating.

"Alright." he answered with his own smile, obviously pleased how this conversation had turned out, but then he remembered.

"So about that training.." he trailed off, knowing his pikachu would get the hint.

He heard his pokémon groan at his words, '_It's like, almost night out, spare me untill tomorrow? Please?_' he whined, training was the last thing he wanted to do today.

Too much had happened today already.

Ash just gave a chuckle as he scooped up his Pikachu quicker then said Pokémon could react, "So this is what we're gonna do.." he started as he held his electric mouse in front of him.

The mouse looked at his trainer with mouth hanging open, in shock at both the speed and how he was now being forced to train in the later parts of the afternoon. This time was nap time!

"I'm going to make you learn Iron Tail, to do that you're going to have to put that tail through some serious training today and probably for a week or so more." he explained, amused at the growing horror on his companions face.

'_You little-!_' Pikachu started but was promptly cut off.

"I'm going to make sure this rock here," he said, stopping his walk and picking up a rather sizeable rock that Pikachu was sure had _not_ been there before, "will not fall off your tail, it will be stuck no matter how much you would struggle."

'_I'm supposed to lift that thing with my tail?!_' the mouse almost screeched out.

Ash only chuckled lightly, "No, you're supposed to carry it on your tail and make sure it doesn't touch the ground until we stop for the night," he explained with a smile.

'_That's even worse! And I don't even get a reward?_' he almost demanded, this wasn't what he had in mind when he agreed to training! Maybe like.. running and stuff but this was almost too much.

Ash raised an eyebrow, having picked up a few thoughts, although he usually didn't do that as it invaded peoples privacy and usually gave him insight into far too many things than he'd like. Last time was an exception to keep Pikachu from freaking out however.

"I didn't think all high and mighty Pikachu here would back away from a challenge?" he was amused to no ends with this little creature.

'_Fine! But I want a reward!_' PIkachu demanded, obviously not liking to get taunted by his trainer and well.. god and all that.

"How about as much berries as you'd like when we stop?" Ash offered, seeing no harm in creating a source of food for the small rodent.

The rodents eyes seemed to shine up for a moment before he gave another condition, '_Pecha berries or no deal!_'

"Deal," holding out his hand for the rodent to shake which he certainly did.

With a deal sealed and a rock properly stuck to Pikachu's tail, they started their training and in a sense, their journey.

'_You just watch, this'll be nothing for me!_' Pikachu announced confidently, ego flaring up once again.

"I'll believe you when you're done, Pikachu." he said with a small smile.

Two days had gone by rather quickly with Pikachus training now in full swing and with more time to bond, they had made quite the progress in their journey.

Although rather minimal to the grander scale of things, it was still going really well for the yellow rodent in his opinion.

It was a strange feeling, was this what it felt like if one was proud over another beings accomplishments?

True to his word, Pikachu had been able to get the basics of Iron Tail down to perfection however he had been unable to, atleast for now, bring the right amount of energy for a real attack into his tail, something Pikachu had been frustrated with endlessly for the past twenty-four hours.

Ash had noted that Pikachu struggled with attacks that required more finesse, such as a Thundershock and in some rare moments even Thunder Wave had been lacking. Though he assumed it was cause of his companions lack of experience in handling said attacks.

The rodent had even admitted it himself that he relied perhaps a bit too much on Quick Attack in most situations.

One thing he had been pleasantly surprised over though was that the little rodents physical abilities were almost unnaturally sharp for his age. How this had come about he had no idea and was not about to pry for details he was sure his companion didn't want him to know, he would share his stories when he was ready.

While both Ash and Pikachu had hoped to run into a trainer to have their first real battle with, it had sadly not happend. Though Ash had sensed trainers around Route 1, most of them were too far away that it wouldn't be worth it to track them down or force them here for that matter.

The route was simply too big for trainers to run into eachother most of time and in a way that was relaxing, they could focus solely on training without interruptions.

His companion had woken up from his nightly slumber a couple of hours ago and they had been walking for most of said time, only stopping to let Pikachu have his breakfast in peace before resuming.

He watched as his companion walked ahead of him with a now slightly bigger rock on his tail without a care in the world, happy how things had turned out it seemed.

That was good in his opinion, he was glad that things had worked out the way they had aswell with their, atleast in the start, confusing situation.

While everything was fine and dandy there was one thought that kept pestering his mind.

_Two versus Two_

A second pokémon would be needed for the gym battle he would be facing in Pewter City.

It wasn't the thought of having another companion to worry about, quite the contrary, he would love to have more pokémon on this journey.

What had him worried about it was actually _capturing_ a pokémon. Forcing a sentient creature into a ball against its will.

While it had been done for several generations now within the human society and had been openly accepted by the elemental creatures of this world as they had witnessed the bonds between trainer and pokémon.

It didn't sit just quite right with him to do that to any creature. No, he would have to actually ask them if they wanted to come along with him and if they responded with an affirmative he would capture them, with their consent.

He would never force another creature who had done no harm to the world through such a horrible fate, despite humanity doing the contrary.

Ash just hoped it wouldn't come back to bite him.

A small but sharp tug in the right leg of his pants was felt as he was walking.

Looking down at his companion, curious and in a way concerned black eyes were looking back at him, '_Worried about something?_' Pikachu questioned him head tilted with an ear drooping down in a questioning expression.

Ash gave a small smile at his companions question, perhaps it would only be fair to let him know about what he had been thinking?

He explained his thoughts out loud to the yellow rodent, about how he would never force a pokémon to join them.

Pikachu looked at him as if he had gone crazy.

'_That's what you're worried about?_' he asked with an incredulous shake of his head, his new trainer was truly an idiot.

Having picked up the last part of his companions thoughts, Ash stiffled a smile despite the situation.

'_Look, most pokémon aren't against being captured as it can solve lots of problems for the pokémon._' Pikachu explained, '_It can be anything from free food to protection or maybe just to not be alone you know?_' the rodent finished.

Ash nodded at his companions words, truth be told he had maybe been out of touch with the world for abit too long, just _maybe_.

"So it wouldn't really be as cruel as I had originally thought?" Ash questioned, curious about the rodents answer.

'_Would I really be here talking to you right now if I thought of this as cruel?_' was his answer.

That was true, If he knew his companion correctly, if unsatisfied with the situation he would probably just have ran away.

It was a minor victory, he guessed.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't," he answered with a smile as they continued to walk in comfortable silence.

Viridian City was near now, the quiet sound of the surrounding greenery was slowly getting replaced by the rumbling sounds of mechanic transportations and humans going about their everyday lives.

The rock stuck on Pikachus tail was let go and the rodent jumped up on his trainers shoulder, bracing himself for their first journey together into the city.

As they continued forward, the sounds got louder and more distinguishable the closer they got to the city. It being merely meters away from them now, the only thing really separating them from the city ahead of them was a small patch of tall grass.

Ash looked at his companion sitting comfortably on his shoulder, "Ready?" he questioned.

His companion only shrugged, '_As ready as you are.'_

"Alright, let us say hello to Viridian City then." he mused as he stepped through the tall grass in front of him.

* * *

Is it wrong for one to be disappointed by his own creations?

Arceus could only sigh as he was met with cheery salesmen and women trying to coax them into buying this and that as they wandered through the busy streets of Viridian Citys center.

They had been at him since the moment he stepped into the city, pestering him about clothing, food and even medicine in some rare occasions. One could only imagine the social horrors if he'd actually accepted their offers to show him around in their stores.

Some had even said his partners fur hadn't been shiny enough, offering a 'wax' they had called it. Not bothering to actually learn what said product or procedure did, he let his partner speak for him with minor shocks of electricity.

When he questioned his partner after said interactions, all he got was a shrug and a short '_It was just an insult._'

City-life as they called it, was odd.

Not odd as in unnatural or weird, just.. _confusing_.

Everything had certain names he was sure wasn't their original names, even said names had names. Ash was honestly surprised that the humans could actually remember these things.

Perhaps it was a learning ritual he had not heard about that had been intergrated into their society lately? That would atleast explain the odd wordings on clothing and food.

It had all been much simpler decades before, just what had happend?

But who was he to judge? In theory, it was him that had spawned this confusing situation by creating the ancestors of these fiends of marketing.

They had been walking around for the better part of two hours, checking out what Viridian had to offer. One of the most surprising revelations was his lack of currency needed to do certain things, such as entering apparently restricted areas where only said currency would gain you entry.

Even medicines developed to cure humans of certain illnesses was often put, as he understood it atleast, up for sale at high prices these days.

Going around the city, taking in all the new sounds and sceenery appeared to have tired out his companion as he now lazily rested atop his shoulder. He had considered stopping at one of the 'pokémon centers' but had ultimately decided against it. There would be no need for such a thing during his journey.

He had already investigated and gathered enough info to deem pokémon centers safe for the worlds inhabitants long ago. He had no need for it though, neither did his pokémon.

Although Viridian City had been interesting, particularily the pokémart and the Viridian City gym which he was certain he would pay a visit to in the future, it was time to end their very short stay in Viridian City.

It was mid-day currently and they had more then enough time to reach the outskirts of Viridian forest by night if they left now by foot.

Although his partner had argued that they should atleast look around more inside of Viridian City, though this was said with Pikachus eyes glued to something resembling a food stand. Even though they had argued for a couple of minutes, most arguments coming from his yellow companion, he managed to get the mouse to come to his senses.

Forcing his reluctant partner away from everything consumable, he had finally managed to get them both on the road that lead them through Viridian City to Viridian forest.

It was strange walking through the city, the rather newly built tall housings of the humans towered him and he was sure some would even be bigger than his natural form. In a way it was impressive that humans had managed to come so far in so little time, making medicines out of the worlds resources to cure themselves and developing an even deeper partnership with the elemental creatures that roamed this world.

It brought out some much needed peace within him.

Perhaps he should take some time off later when all of this was done and check out what certain jobs did in this age? It was always different every time he visited cities each decade. He had read posters that had littered the walls he had walked by, some with interesting information but ultimately it was invitations to do certain activities.

Was this how social gatherings between the humans worked these days? He should probably partake in one of these when he had the time, for research of course.

His thoughts were disturbed when his partner tugged at his human forms hair, gaining his attention and halting his walk.

An extended limb and a tiny finger pointing a certain way was in his field of vision, he followed where Pikachu had pointed and his eyes came across something that was both interesting and confusing.

"A breeding center?" he questioned out loud to his companion, raising an eyebrow at him. Sure it was an interesting find and all but what could have made Pikachu want him to see one?

'_Yeah, they take care of both wild and trained Pokémon._' Pikachu explained as they continued walking, '_They take care of the eggs if they're abandoned and then give them to the local herds if possible when they've hatched and matured abit._' his partner seemed to have a fond smile on his face as he continued talking.

'_From what I remember, they took care of many in my groups eggs if they were.. unable to._' His partner seemed to be in deep thought, something he wasn't about to intrude on.

'_I just have uhh.. respect for breeding centers._' Pikachu scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Ash gave him a gentle smile and pat his head carefully, "They're doing the right thing, that's for sure," he said, voicing his own opinion of them. His words putting his partners turbulent thoughts at rest.

They continued their walk through the city in a comfortable silence, breaking it only to point out certain things that their eyes had spotted around them.

Eventually they managed to get out of Viridian City, the sound of nature replacing the loud-noised city, it was a pleasant change for the two. Now he could finally talk to Pikachu about another thing that had been on his mind.

Viridian forest was ahead of them, the home of Bug, Flying and Poison types aswell as to a lesser extent pikachus. This meant that, unless they delayed their journey through Viridian forest to check out the Victory Road passage, they would end up with a Bug, Poison or Flying type as their second member.

And they weren't about to turn around to head for where the Kanto league was located, that was for sure.

"Pikachu?" Ash questioned, gaining the attention of his companion.

The yellow rodents ears perked up in response and that was the only signal he needed to continue, "What do you think would be ideal to have as a second teammate? Bug, Poison or Flying-type?" he was curious as to how Pikachu would handle this question.

He wouldn't mind either type as they had their advantages and disadvantages, but his partners opinion would always be appreciated.

'_Well.. if we're talking battling I guess Flying-types would be the best? It would cover up my weakness to Ground-types right?_' Pikachu suggested, looking about as unsure as he himself was about this suggestion.

A Flying-type in Viridian forest would be of either the spearow evolution line or pidgey evolution line. While there aren't too many notable differences between the two, they have different movesets and aerial capabilities.

Fearows aren't as agile as the pidgeots but is far more bulkier and hard-hitting while in the air. If they chose a flying-type it would be the choice between speed and flexibility versus endurance and power.

Although both sides could learn the others respective traits, it was the question of which would benefit Pikachu the most right now. Though he wasn't about to center his eventual Pokémon team around Pikachu, variation and cover-ups for weaknesses was ideal in a battle, was it not?

Then again, perhaps they wouldn't need a flying-type or they could capture one later on.

"How do you feel about Bug and Poison-types then?" He questioned the mouse, any opinion was fine right now. He just wanted to know how his partner felt about each type.

'_Aren't there only caterpies and weedles in Viridian forest?_' Pikachu questioned, confused over why they would even consider one of them. Not that he had anything against said pokémon, it was just that their final evolutions, while having their own little tricks, were hardly the most ideal partners for a team of serious battlers.

Then again, if Ash caputed one, Pikachu was sure he was gonna eat his words.

"Yes, them and their evolutions inhabit a large part of Viridian forest." Ash answered calmly, waiting for the rodents opinion.

'_Well.. they evolve fast and that would be good right? I mean not that they can do much as an immobile kakuna or metapod, but you know.. fast evolutions.._' Pikachu finished with a sheepish shrug at his own statement, trying to actually say something positive about the species.

Ash frowned slightly at the response, while he could understand his partners hesitant words about the Bug-types, especially regarding battling, it was still wrong to judge one by what they had been born as.

But Ash had to remind himself that Pikachu was still young, he would learn when he had grown as a battler that not a single Pokémon could be bad in a fight.

"They do evolve fast alright, but their final evolutions are very versatile when it comes to what they can be good at." Ash commented, earning a nod out of Pikachu.

'_Beedrills aren't that bad speed-wise and can learn anything from ranged to melee attacks, they even have super-effective attacks for Grass and Psychic types._' his partner added, trying to figure out what would be good for their future team.

It was pleasant to talk like this, ponder over what might come next and not influence it yourself. It had a certain excitement about it in his opinion, perhaps this was what all trainers felt like?

"And butterfrees are very good control-wise with their different types of spores and powders, not that speedy but that could be worked on?" Ash questioned outloud, voicing his thoughts.

'_Well, I'm sure with you here to train them, that butterfree would probably be faster then a pidgeot eventually,_' Pikachu shot a grin in his direction.

Ash could only chuckle at his partners word, while it wasn't possible for a butterfree to be that fast, it sure brought up a valid point. He would most likely, seeing as he was now taking this seriously, train them to the ground with his desired methods.

They walked the rest of the way towards the beginning of Viridian forest in a comfortable silence. Since they hadn't really decided on what their second member should be, it was only right to take it as it comes.

Hours had gone by since they had left Viridian City, nightfall was closing in and they decided to stay out of Viridian forest for the night. They could enter tomorrow when they had the whole day ahead of them to meet their future companion.

It was odd to be feeling excitement for the coming day in Arceus own opinion, he could only sigh with a smile on his face as he sat down and leaned back against a large tree trunk in the small clearing they had decided to spend the night in. His companion was curled up and already asleep in his lap, comfortable with their sleeping arrangements.

While he was absentmindedly petting his tired companion, one thought made it's way to the front of his mind, a light smile making its apperance.

He knew that tomorrow would be a good day.

* * *

A good day indeed.

Viridian forest was interesting to say the least, in just one hour of walking they had already seen a large part of the Pokémon they had contemplated to catch.

Pidgeys, caterpies, weedles had been seen frequently since their venture inside the forest and they had even stumbled across a kakuna nest on their way in. It wasn't an easy task to make a decision like this, since the pokémon they caught would be with them for the rest of their journey from then on.

As they continued to trade their thoughts and opinions on what they should catch, Ash made his way deeper inside the Viridian forest with his yellow companion on his shoulder.

It was a big forest, that was for sure, several times larger then Route 1 had been. Though this time they may have some luck with trainers seeing as Viridian forest was more frequently visited by trainers due to its diverse selection of pokémon types.

Though from what they had figured out, there was more newly started trainers around these parts due to it's close proximity to Pewter City.

Ash couldn't help but wonder if their eventual first battle would involve one of the species catchable in this forest, that would mean unless it was a Flying-type they were facing, Electric-type attacks wouldn't be effective enough at his partners current skill-level.

Then again it would be an ideal time to try out Iron Tail, although Pikachus success rate with using the move had gone up slightly from their time spent training in Route 1, it would be nice to see how he handled it in a real battle.

He could hear the pidgeys and spearows chirping up in the sky and trees around them, fighting over their territory in the forest. While fighting wasn't something he encouraged, listening to it as a background noise was oddly comfortable while doing their trek through Viridian forest. The sun was high up in the sky leaving barely anything in the forest without its much needed sunlight, although his partner had complained about it being too warm during the day.

They were currently walking through a large area of tall grass, having decided it would be the fastest way towards Pewter City, although they were by no means in a hurry, Pikachu had argued that it would be best to know which direction was fastest atleast.

Ash took a few small steps forward, lost in thought as they still walked through the greenery presented before them, only to feel his right foot land on something unexpectedly hard.

A groan of pain was heard, the almost shell-like quality of what he had stepped upon bending beneath his weight.

'_Please.._' the voice let out, strained and begging.

Pikachu almost jumped out of his skin at the voice coming from below them, barely keeping his balance on his trainers shoulder with the help of his untamed locks.

Almost as if in a hurry, and admittedly he had been given quite the shock himself, Ash moved away from the tiny crumbled leaves he had stepped upon. Mentally berating himself for harming another creature, even if unintensionally.

He could already see the beginnings of a metapods body as he took a step away from the unexpected voice, it had apparently been trying to hide for some reason.

Well, It looked like it atleast while metapods were by no means immobile creatures, they moved very slowly and preferred to live out their cocoon stages high up in the trees away from predators and soak in the sun to help them evolve.

This Metapod however, had been laid burried beneath a mess of leaves in a patch of large bushy grass. Something wasn't right here.

"I apologize for not seeing you there, are you hurt?" Ash tried to say soothingly as he kneeled down in front of the now rustled leaves, giving away the metapods position quite obviously now that he could finally take a closer look.

He could already see the dent he had caused on the pokémons shell, his heart already filling up with regret and shame.

Ash moved his hand to brush away the leaves covering the cocoons body, only to be met with the pleading, droopy eyes of a metapod, _'Please don't..' _his voice was as weak and slow as one could expect out of a metapod at this stage.

"I'm not going to do anything, just check if you are hurt, alright?", he really did feel bad for being so rude and stepping on the cocoon. Ash placed his hand flat against the hard-shell, allowing himself to completely mend the damage he had caused the bug-type.

Truth be told he was not used to be actively displaying and helping with his abilities, it was almost always by his lonesome.

He tried to influence the small bug-type with comfort and a sense of calm at the same time, making sure the bug-type could calm down after his foolish mistake, he was still quite curious over the hard-shelled pokémons idea to hide beneath leaves and not high up in the trees where he could recieve the nourishment he needed to evolve.

Both Pikachu and Metapod gazed at Ash with incredulous eyes, the boy keeping his stare trained on the pleading Bug-type with focus as he worked his way through the injuries he had caused, making sure not an inch of the cocoon body was injured.

It was then that the reluctant thoughts of the metapod came through his short touch, the laid dormant psychic powers of a butterfree springing to life briefly at Arceus mending connection and allowing the unrestrained thoughts of the metapod, no barriers of a hard-shell.

_'Please, I don't wish to evolve.' _He was blunt in mind, it would seem.

His gaze moved up to the bug-types droopy eyes at the words flowing freely through their touch, the fear of the sun and its capabilities to force an evolution inside of him opening and becoming as clear as the blue sky.

The sting of betrayal, the burden of responsibility was making the metapod do this utterly foolish plan of hiding himself from the sun. But at their brief touch he could also feel the desire to grow stronger in this restrained form, battling and training under the guidance of someone accepting and tolerating.

One whom would not throw him away or force him to evolve and the choice that death was a better option then not being able to acheive this.

He felt pity for the bug-type.

How long had the bug even been here? Its dangerous for a metapod to avoid direct sunlight as in this form its the only form of sustenance he could achieve, long periods of time without it could prove fatal.

Starving yourself to death cause of your fears was not an option here, Ash realised he would have to perhaps do something he wasn't too comfortable with.

Perhaps even break a few guidelines set up by himself, but something inside of him was just drawn to helping the little ones that was too afraid to do anything themselves.

He took a deep breath, really hoping he wouldn't regret this later.

"Metapod, would you listen for just a moment?" he spoke the words in a soft and soothing tone, much like the one he used when reassuring Pikachu he hadn't done anything wrong.

He could see the already growing confuson in the metapods eyes as he moved his hand to his back pocket, taking out a tiny shrunken ball. Every Pokémon these days knew just what these contraptions were and what they could do, the cocoons eyes widening at the action.

Ash calmly, despite the weird looks he were given by Pikachu and the now frightened ones by Metapod, increased the size of the container with a small tap.

Then he simply laid the ball down in front of the crumpled leaves the Bug-type were hiding beneath.

"I'll give you a choice."

The now fearful eyes of the cocoon were staring back at him, tracking his every movement.

"If you press the small button on the pokéball and enter it without any hesitating, I'll promise you that you won't have to evolve." Just for a brief moment he could see the fear moving out of the way for a tiny bit of hope before he continued.

"Or," he started, taking a quick glance at Pikachu only to find his first companion smiling at him with some goofy grin, "We'll simply leave you here, but since you're actively avoiding the sun you won't make it more then a day or two here alone."

Was he being too harsh with the truth? Forcing a metapod to choose between joining them and death in a sense?

It was not a forgiving world, The Original One knew that better then anyone but he could only hope that the bug would agree to this chance he was giving him, despite how harsh he was being.

Doubt and hope were struggling in the small bugs eyes, looking between both him and Pikachu as if they would continue talking before gazing upon the now full-sized pokéball before him.

It was Pikachu that started talking.

'_You're welcome to join us you know,_' the electric type took a few steps from where he had stood and took a seat in the grass next to Metapod, ignoring the bugs questioning eyes.

'_You see that guy over there?_' Pikachu gestured behind him with a nod of his head, recieving a blink from the bug as confirmation.

'_If not evolving is what you really want, he's the only one that can help you._'

That was true in a way, perhaps the only one with a human appearance that would be capable of such a feat. However there were a rare type of stone that could provide similar effects if exposed enough, sadly it was quite the distance from Viridian and Pewter to a cave with these potent rocks.

The Bug-types eyes darted back and forth between them and pokéball, still doubting.

'_You won't throw me away..?_' the voice muffled and strained beneath the hard-exterior that was his shell.

Ash almost felt offended that the bug would even ask such a thing, but then he remembered that perhaps a metapod wasn't the most ideal battling pokémon or even travelling companion.

It was a reasonable fear to have in this scenario and Ash didn't like it one bit.

He felt confident now, kneeling down and moving his arm to place a gentle hand on the cocoons hard shell, giving him his reassurances and sincerity through just touch once more.

"I don't throw away my friends." the words were said with a dazzling and radiant smile.

The sound of a pokéball opening was heard, its light forcing Pikachu to look away for just a split-second before it died down.

It was rocking back and forth, its button flashing between white and red as if the metapod was now truly choosing between inevitable demise or long-lasting friendships.

Ash was confident in which choice was going to be made, the motivation inside the Bug to grow stronger had almost taken him by surprise when he had touched him.

He wouldn't lie to him though, a metapod was not a good battler by any means, however as they all would be learning with experience...

The ball stopped rocking back and forth, a satisfying _ding_ being heard signifying a complete capture.

Nothing, and he truly meant nothing, was useless in a battle.

* * *

'_So.. you're the.._'

They had set up a small camp amongst a few trees here in Viridian forest, taking it easy now that the day was coming to an end and night was just beginning.

'_The one and only!_' Pikachu boasted proudly, obviously pleased about his trainers actual identity, Ash rolled his eyes good-naturedly at his partners words.

The three had settled down now that it was dark outside, Pikachu being fed and them getting to know eachother. They had learned a lot in the short time they had been together with the Metapod, atleast about his fears and goals.

Good news was that while the bug-type lacked confidence especially with his most recent decisions made in his life, he was looking forward to be fully commited to battling.

The bad news, well..

Both Ash and Pikachu had learned that Metapod had originally not wanted to evolve from a caterpie, he had been satisifed with his group of fellow caterpies. Looking for food, protecting eachother and having a family.

They had been a tight-knit group he had said, like brothers and sisters.

He had evolved defending them and as thanks they had merely left him, they said he would merely have slowed them down in his new evolved form.

The betrayal had stung more then a several beedrills injecting him with poison at once.

Pikachu had asked about why evolving into a butterfree had been such a bad thing, wouldn't that be what most metapods would dream about in their cocoon stages?

Metapod had explained that while a butterfree was not something that was scary or even foriegn to him, the dutys that would be given to him amongst the hordes of butterfrees aswell as the natural instincts was something that frightened him.

More specifically, butterfrees breeded as if they were lopunnys.

He really didn't want that, it was forced responsibility and it only lasted for a few weeks at a time.

Even if he was a captured butterfree, the urges would still be there to repress and it would cause nothing but discomfort for himself, not to mention it would be a battle of sanity.

While he found it odd to deny ones natural instincts, Pikachu had taken it in stride. Ash only giving the metapod an understanding nod.

And here they were now, sitting next to the unnatural warmth that was their trainers body.

'_Would you really stop me from evolving if I wanted too..?_' the bug-type questioned, still slightly reeling from the discovery of his new trainer. He didn't want to request something so selfish from a god when there were likely many different pokémon whom would end anothers life for this chance, perhaps hundreds of lives.

Ash nodded his head slowly, "Though, this is not something I usually do," he started, leaning back against the tree trunk, "I don't like to interfere with the natural progress of pokémon."

It was true, he disliked the fact that he would probably have to go against his own beliefs to satisfy his now own pokémons mental sufferings.

Perhaps the old man had given him more then he'd imagined, a chance to test himself to his limit regarding his kindness and will?

His pokémon would not be given the chance to reverse this change, he had to make it clear that he was not some blessing-machine that performed miracles at ones beck and call.

There was a satisfied nudge from the metapod at his side, making him hesitate just slightly in giving the Bug-type his answer, "If you don't want to evolve, I need you to be completely sure of your decision."

He lifted the slow-moving cocoon up to his lap, being careful with the already there Pikachu resting in his lap before he continued, "It will be permanent, I will not budge even if you would beg several years after this."

Both Pikachu and Metapod perked up at his choice of words, this wasn't just some one-time thing and they would be released back into the wild after some time testing to be a trainer? It was.. years.

Years, they would be the Original Ones pokémon for years to come.

Pikachu snuggled deeper into the warmth of the boys body while Metapod stared at Ash with pure adoration in his eyes.

He caught onto the meaning of his own words and let out a small sigh with a smile on his face, deciding it was best to get his answer while his friends were still up and awake.

"So what's it going to be Metapod?" there was no room for thinking it over, he wanted to be able to set up a nice training schedual should he want to stay as a second-stage evolution.

The bug-type blinked at his words, staring back into his eyes from his lap.

'_Will you allow me to battle if I stay as a Metapod?_' the uncertainty was still there despite their short time getting to get to know eachother, but this was also a good sign. Would the bug-type ask this if he wasn't very sure he was going to do whatever it took to fight for their cause?

There was only one answer to this question, "You'll be the opening pokémon in our first gym battle no matter what you choose, it's entirely up to you Metapod."

'_I wish to stay as I am._' the pure happiness just oozing from the bug-type was truly beautiful in his eyes.

He gave the bug a short nod, placing his hand on the Metapods shell and closing his eyes, taking a deep breath.

Pikachu swore that when his trainer opened his eyes once more to focus on the task, it was the same smoldering mess of red and green of Arceus that was staring down at their newest companion.

It was short and quick, a blue sheen of pure aura coating the hard-shelled pokémon at the gods touch briefly, before crashing down like water upon the ground and vanishing into the grass below.

If there was any doubt from Metapod about his trainers true identity left, it had been erased.

Ash gave both of his pokémon a bright smile afterwards, Pikachu returning the favor and Metapod trying as best he could with what he had.

"So, who's up for some training?" he commented, seeing their cheerful expressions drop in an instant. It was quite pleasing.

A loud groan of protest came from the yellow rodent, '_Really? It's pretty much dark already!_'

"And?" Ash questioned with a smile, really just wanting to hear just why his partner would deny the chance to train. Sure it was pretty much night outside, but still.

'_It's nap time, not fight time!_'

He had to fight an even larger smile at the mouses complaints, he'd give them some rest before Metapods first training session. Now he could even make sure Pikachu got some much needed battle experience, they had no luck running into trainers and tracking them down was merely time consuming.

He had some nice ideas for both Pikachu and Metapod, but they could wait.

His hands went up in surrender, "Alright, just get a good nights sleep and we'll do some training tomorrow," he wasn't so sure if the smug '_I was right_' look from Pikachu was worth relenting for, but he'd make sure the mouse got his payback tomorrow.

"Good night you two, get some well deserved rest." He truly meant it.

They each gave their goodnights, not knowing that tomorrow was going to be the day of all training days.

* * *

He was sitting and browsing through the various features the pokédex could offer him, the professor had really outdone himself from what he could see, despite not knowing much about technology, Ash could clearly see that sweat, blood and tears was put into the making of this miracle machine.

While most information availible were something he'd already had knowledge of, he could already imagine the impact this device would have on trainers.

Could even _he_ guess what Pikachus preference of food was? He shook his head, perhaps this was too much for humanity to handle.

If the world would continue to evolve with humanity, would he truly be needed? Their ability to grasp information and share it was starting to overwhelm even him.

He peaked up from browsing his already scanned pokémon only to see his own yellow rodent trying to swing his tail into a rock Ash had set up for the pokémon to practice with.

Pikachu was coming along nicely, he could both see and feel the energy trying to burst out of the tail with each strike against the large rock.

They were focused, only paying attention to him correcting their form or giving them advice. He realised they wanted to make him proud, putting their all into giving him the best possible journey both companion and battle-wise he could ever have.

It was heart-warming to see the creatures under his large wings flourish and evolve within themselves.

Metapod had been tricky to start training though.

First of all, the species itself has no real way to move unassisted making it a very stationary target for its weaknesses. A flying or fire-type would take advantage of it with long-range attacks and finish the bug off within seconds if he couldn't move.

However, Ash knew that there were ways a metapod could fight or even become mobile. He would never have let a defenseless pokémon into the world.

It was a strict training regiment, he understood that when he had assigned the bug-type for it, but due to his species glaring weaknesses it was really needed.

Stringshot was not a very common move in battling he'd come to realise, the more he had read the info on his pokédex he understood how truly blind trainers could be to their pokémons greatest strengths.

The move itself was weak, however that was merely due to it not being emphasized in the pokémons training regiments, most would perhaps focus on more ideal attacks for a metapods final evolution that would have more relevence, such as Bug Bite or even Tackle.

That was not going to be the case for this one, Metapod would be practicing Stringshot untill he could shoot strings no more. Accuracy, quickness aswell as the strength of the cord itself was going to be worked upon.

He had explained to the bug-type just what all this hard work was going to result in.

Movement.

Most caterpies, weedles and all others capable of using the move Stringshot let the cord go after they had shot it away. They were going to do the opposite, making sure Metapod was capable of not only keep the strings attached to his opponent firmly from where he had shot them, but be able to suck the strings back into the bug-type himself at a fast rate, as if flinging himself at the opponent.

This process would create suitable replacement for a normal pokémons movement, if not a bit too linear.

One thing was for certain though, If he had thought this up and executed it correctly, this metapod would be able to not only move himself by shooting and absorbing the cords, but dragging himself and his opponent together to form what he would like to call...

A "Improvised" Headbutt attack.

Tackle but reinforced by the speed that would be given by the metapod quite literally flying towards his opponent.

When he had finished explaining his goal for all this training to Metapod, there was such an intense fire in the bugs eyes to live up to the goal they had now set.

He had been shooting Stringshots for several hours, perfecting and testing out new methods with the help of his trainer.

It was a surprise that the hard-shelled cocoon had taken so well to training, but it was welcomed from the stubborn but growing physical power that was his Pikachu.

They had started to try and perfect his already learned moves such as Thunder Wave and Thundershock due to their admittedly low success-ratio.

He had to be honest, Pikachu was not great with anything that didn't require him to hit something. It was tough trying to decide just what could be made out of his Pikachu, should he completely abandon all training methods for moves such as Thunderbolt or even later down the road, Thunder?

There was Thunderpunch if he required some electricity with his moveset and he could keep himself as a more up-front and hitting type of pokémon.

All of the pikachu evolutionary line had great speed, even the bulky raichus but was this the road they wanted to take? They would need something that could deal with too agile threats that simply wouldn't be solved with bruce force at meele range.

It was an odd feeling, worrying over such simple things.

He couldn't remember the last time when "worry" had been a recognizable feeling, trainers without the benefits that he possesed sure deserved more credit then he had given them before.

Creating bonds despite the obvious language barriers and still maintaining a healthy beneficial relationship was something to be proud of.

However both his pokémons training aswell as his own musings were interrupted by the rustling of the bushes nearby them, the sound of twigs snapping and leaves crumbling with each step their apparent intruder took.

It wasn't really in a humans nature to be stealthy.

A boy perhaps the same age as his human persona stepped out of the bushes, pokéball in hand and a determined look adorning his features. For how long the boy had watched them was lost on him, he had been too absorbed with his own thoughts to sense the boys aura moving closer.

"You!" the boy exclaimed passionately, pointing a skinny finger at Ash, his strawhat almost leaving its place with the rather forcefull pose.

He titled his head at the boys rather rude actions but decided to ignore it for now, "Yes?" he questioned, trying to sound calm and not in the least flustered by the intruder in their clearing.

Truth be told he had expected them to atleast come out of Viridian forest with a few battles under their belt, it would seem the sounds of their training had done the work for them in getting them some battle experience.

"I challenge you to a battle, one on one!" getting right to the point it would seem.

Then again, it wouldn't hurt to test out how he himself faired under the pressure of battle. It had been a slight worry given how easily it would be for him to merely react with commands before the opponent could even begin to form the words.

They did not want to cheat or have any unfair advantages, this would be a test of his own skills in holding himself back.

He rose from his comfortable position next to the tree, taking a few calm steps towards the intruder deciding it would just be best to be civil about this whole battling thing.

Arceus held out his hand for the other boy to shake, "Sure thing, name's Ash." He had decided to just go with the name, it was an honoring to the professor in a way.

The boy shook his hand with the one currently not occupied with a Pokéball, "Ned, let's get started."

Atleast Ned was blunt, Ash had to admit that.

* * *

"It'll be a one on one, first one to knock out the other wins!" Ned announced as they stood facing eachother in the clearing.

Not that Ash needed a reminder, he felt quite certain he knew the rule-sets of a battle already. But there was quite the rush of finally being able to battle, to see what it was all about.

Pikachu stood next to him, looking quite confident about this battle. While he would've gladly encouraged the small rodent alot more, it was best to keep a cool head about this first battle they were about to have. It would be a learning experience for all.

He gave the boy his nod of confirmation, it was time.

"I'll go first then! Beedrill, your time to shine!" Ned exclaimed as he threw the red and white sphere onto their makeshift battlefield. The ball opening and releasing the Pokémon inside in a almost blindly bright light.

The white sheen died down and the full visage of beedrill was presented to him, its customary battlecry following its release, staring quite menacincly at his Pikachu not too long after.

It's almost spike-like stingers making an eerie noise as they were sharpened against eachother, probably a pre-battle ritual the pokémon had picked up.

He took another second to truly appreciate that their first battle was about to commence, taking a deep breath to calm himself. He had faith that Pikachu would do his best, Metapod was simply not suited for this matchup.

"Go out there and do your best, Pikachu." he spoke and his yellow rodent responded in kind, jumping out on the battlefield they were about to wreck havoc upon with his own battlecry.

He could never train the feisty and aggressive nature out of Pikachu, despite the lazy pokémon he was when there was no training. The two pokémon set for battling were growling at eachother, staring eachother down.

Ned didn't seem too keen on making the first move, his mistake.

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack to the right and fire off a Thunder Wave!" He commanded, having fate in his mousy friend to heed it.

And he sure did, Pikachu was a blur of speed as he took off in the direction orded, almost crashing into the bushes of the clearing as he came to a skidding stop, electriciy crackling around him before a wave of paralyzing energy made it's rapid way to his target.

"Dodge it Beedrill!"

The Bug-type opponent was not to be underestimated, It dodged the Thunder Wave with ease using a quick twirl to the left, it's many wings shifting amongst the wind and dust having been picked up in the clearing. It was an impressive show of aerial control.

"Nice! Now use Focus Energy and chase that Pikachu down with Pursuit, don't let him slip away!"

A sheen of energy covered the beedrills stingers before a dark aura took it's place, with speed only capable with flight the bug took off for the electric mouse, its now darkened silhouette gaining on Pikachu quickly.

Pursuit was a move that would simply not stop untill it had hit its target, Ash narrowed his eyes at the beedrill chasing his Pikachu, he had to come up with something fast to counter this. Pikachu did not yet have a diverse arsenal of moves to counter anything that could be thrown at them effectively.

He would have to chance it with this.

"Pikachu, turn around and use Iron Tail with a Quick Attack to counter it!" He desperately hoped his mousy friend could manage to get it right this time, it would be a real test of his partners growth.

His Pikachu reacted instantly, trusting him fully it would seem.

It was quite the sight, seeing the energy build up as his partner did a full turn without barely losing any speed. The bright metallic sheen coating Pikachus tail flickered just barely before it solidified, Quick Attack taking him to a new height of speed as the two forces crashed together.

The sharp sound of two steel objects bashing and grinding against eachother was both heard and seen, the Bug-type responding with each pivotal swing brought out by his yellow rodents tail, countering it with a slash or stab of his deadly stingers.

However his partners barely perfected Iron Tail hits were beginning to tire Pikachu out, such foolish use of a minimally trained Pokémons energy should've been obvious to him.

And it was his own fault, it was a stupid tactic they had employed to even try to counter a Pursuit. Desperately trying to counter the ever-seeking Dark-type move was not a good choice.

A slip-up was all it required for Ned to take control of the battle. Beedrill managing to graze a barely still metallic part of Pikachu's tail, a cry of pain being heard at the slight hit, his control of the move failing in an instant at the pain and putting him off balance trying to avoid the consecutive strikes of the deadly stingers.

The Pursuit move counted the small graze as a hit and gave Beedrill the chance to counter with another order from his trainer, "Use Fury Attack while pikachus disoriented and don't let up!"

Now it was a dance between dodging and defeat, the vicious attack that was bringing out the Beedrills natural abilities with blinding speed was something to be absolutely wary of. Fury Attack was simply energy imbued strikes with the bugs stingers at a frightingly fast pace, aiming for any minor or major damage it could achieve with each strike.

He did not wish to be negative about their chances of winning, but with Pikachus lacking moveset there was only one option they had in this situation, should that fail it was lost.

A point-blank Thunder Wave was the only viable method in their disposal of countering the barrage of Fury Attacks, a Quick Attack would not be enough and if he'd manage to slip away a Pursuit would be right there behind him.

One could only hope the Beedrill made a fatal mistake, "Pikachu, get some distance and counter the Fury Attacks with a Thunder Wave!", would it really be enough?

A lucky paralyzation of any vital part the Beedrill required for movement would be ideal, even a stinger arm would be better then nothing.

Pikachu barely dodged a stinger aiming for his hind legs, giving him just enough time to gain some minor distance between him and the Bug-type. He could see the frustration on his partners features, readying himself for the inevitable chance he would have to take.

The paralyzing electricy started crackling around the rodent again, more focused and controlled then the bastardized potshot they had taken at the start of the battle.

Pikachu was calm, focused.

With a battlecry the yellow rodent let lose a fearsome barrage of Thunder Waves, more then Ash had even asked him to perform. He was exhausted but he would atleast go down fighting, no battle would be worth training for if he didn't try his outmost best.

Strings of electricity crackled as they made their way to their grounded target, lighting up the clearing as if a natural thunder strike had just struck down amongst them.

Then the unexpected happend, something that very quickly showed them their inexperience as battlers.

"Quick, Beedrill! Stab the ground with your stingers!" The Thunder Waves hit the Beedrill, completely leaving no part of the Bug-types body not crackling with the paralyzing electricity thrown around almost carelessly by the yellow rodent.

It was hard to look at the scene of a beedrill recieving the full brunt of a Thunder Wave point-blank, its already yellow and black form almost shining at the light emitting from the waves crackling around its body.

Then, as if the light had merely been a passing nuisance, the wild electricity made its way down the Beedrills body, seeking itself to the stingers conducting it down towards it inevitable fading.

There was the slight crackling around the bug-types form as it withdrew the stingers from the ground, but it ultimately looked like it did not bother the beedrill too much.

An eerie sharpening sound of the stingers was heard again before the command from the human behind the Pokémon rang throughout the clearing, "Finish it with X-Scissor!"

Ash could only close his eyes as he heard the cries of Pikachu being hit, his prior exhaustion being as clear as a day to his trainer.

There was no point in an order to dodge, it was simply over. They had been bested.

* * *

**This is simply an upload of a existing chapter found on an old harddrive, I wouldn't get my hopes up.**


End file.
